I Got the Iconia Tab 8 and Here’s My Review
The folks at Intel Tablets sent me one of their newest tablets to check out as part of their Tablet Crew: the Acer Iconia Tab 8. I know people are on the hunt for their next gadget. So I tried it out and below is my review.
Please note that reviews on Awesomely Techie are ALWAYS honest and not swayed by whatever way we received it. Also, transparency is key and you will always know if we were compensated for a post. Again, it won’t affect our thoughts on a product. With that being said, let’s get into it. 
The Acer Iconia Tab 8 runs on the Android Kit Kat operating system and the specs are:
- 16 GB of memory
- 2 GB RAM
- 8 inch screen with a resolution of 1920×1200
- 1.8 GHz Intel Qud-core processor
- Front camera: 2 MP; Rear camera: 5 MP
- Lithium ion battery
- MicroSD slot (for memory card)
Set up was easy. Since it uses an Android operating system, it is very Google-friendly. It connected to wifi seamlessly and prompted me to sign into my Gmail account to sync my info like my contacts and calendar. My phone is an Samsung Galaxy, so the interface was familiar to me. It felt like I was holding a giant version of it, basically.
It has anti-fingerprinting coating, so smudging was much less than expected. The display of this tablet is impressive. I was loving how crisp the screen looked, and how the colors popped, even when it was at like 25% brightness.
The Acer Tab 8 next to my iPad Mini
By the way, this tablet is pretty light. It weighs 760 grams. Although, it’s not as light as my iPad mini (it’s also taller). It won’t weight down a bag too much. This is definitely friendly to use on-the-go. Besides the display, the keyboard was also easy to type on. I liked the default setting that made the tabled vibrate a little whenever you type. This also has swyping capability.
Again, us Android phone users will love the familiarity. I liked how smooth it was to navigate between apps, though. Browsing the web was a breeze and it was faster than my phone. I viewed my blog on it too just so I could see what it would look like. I was pleased with that.
What this tablet lacks is the ability to control your home screen. Unlike on my phone, the Iconia Tab doesn’t let you delete any extra blank pages where there are no icons. I tried the pinch method that will show all screens and allow me to drag whichever one I like into the trash. I also tried holding down the “Home” button but the option never popped up. This was a bit annoying because I have to swipe through 6 pages even though only 2 have icons on them. I Googled to see if other people had this issue and they did. The “fix” is to download an external launcher like Nova Launcher to give you more control over this.
Also, this tablet isn’t great for multitasking. I wanted to listen to YouTube while doing other things and the moment I navigated to another app, the YouTube video I was listening to paused. The maximum volume it reached wasn’t impressive either. But I bet most folks would use a speaker with this or headphones.
The Acer Iconia Tab 8 retails for $270 and I think the price is right. It’s a pretty decent tablet and this price point is what it needs to be. It’s over $100 cheaper than an iPad Mini and for those looking to spend less than $400 on a tablet, this might be a good one to consider. I give it 3.5 stars out of 5.
#spon: I’m required to disclose a relationship between our site and Intel. This could include the Intel Corporation providing us w/content, product, access or other forms of payment.
